Baker, Beautician, Philosopher of life.

11 Christmas jumpers later…

Meanwhile in the land of festivities and Yuletide cheer (M&S) there was a Christmas jumper promotion yesterday, so I bought two, naturally. Which actually takes my vast collection of Christmas knitwear that has built up over the years up to a rather apt eleven.

On the subject of eleven, the eleventh and penultimate benefit advent window this morning presented me with the product I’ve been itching for since I got the They’re Real! Mascara. And that’s the They’re Real! Remover. Then after such glee at receiving this item, I won’t lie I was quite deflated when all M&S gave me was a tiny travel size Josh Wood shampoo. Which is the first disappointment I’ve had from the M&S calendar so far.

Let me start with the Josh Wood shampoo. Even though it was quite disappointing, that doesn’t mean it’s a shoddy product, far from it. This is a shampoo I’ve used before and it really amplifies the volume at the roots of your hair, which will ultimately (combined with the corresponding conditioner) give you a great base to keep your styles lasting longer, not to mention leaving your gorgeous locks beautifully nourished and healthy. Also with Josh Wood specialising in colour, you can rest assured the products in his range will have a number one aim of keeping your coloured hair bright and radiant.

The reason I was disappointed with receiving this product is because the items I’ve got previously have all been near enough full size, and great to use on their own. This product is the travel size bottle which, after all the full sized products I’ve got from the calendar, doesn’t really excite me. Plus it’s only the shampoo, where’s the conditioner at?! How can I give a real review of a product that requires you to use a second product to get the full benefit from it?

Apologies for the negative feedback, but it could’ve been turned around had this product been in the box for day 1, then gradually as the days went by, the products get bigger and better. But as I said that doesn’t impact on how good a shampoo it is.

Now onto the They’re Real! Mascara Remover. Since this amazing mascara is waterproof, you’ll need more than regular cleanser to remove it since it’s not water based.

The remover comes in a handy tube rather than a bottle and you apply it to a cotton pad and gently wipe downwards on your lashes several times until your lashes are fresh and au naturale again. The remover is a gel which I think is great because some makeup removers are far too watered down and you have to use much more of them in one go; with a gel, less is more. And with it being quite a pricey item, you want it to last longer than 5 minutes.

The delicate gel formula is mighty enough to remove the heavy waterproof mascara but is also gentle on the thin skin around the eye, which is great for preserving the elasticity of the skin and preventing any wrinkles.

Today Benefit have clearly won the race for day 11, however I do still love the Josh Wood Full bodied range, but it would’ve been great if I had the conditioner too. Knowing my luck after this rant it’ll be behind tomorrow’s Window.